Effective fire fighting requires that the fire be attacked at its source. Thus, where an attic is burning, for example, the firefighter must gain access to the attic so that the appropriate substance may be applied to the fire. Traditionally, firefighters have used a combination tool known as the pike hook to pull ceiling materials out of the way to gain access to fires in spaces above the firefighter. That tool also has utility in the removal of walls, floors, vehicular panels, and other items. The pike hook includes an elongate handle having a longitudinally extending metallic pointed member or pike at its distal end, and a transversely extending metallic hook member integrally formed therewith. The pike part of the tool is used to punch through the drywall, plaster, or other structural material blocking access to the fire, and the hook part of the tool is employed to pull the material down or out and out of the way after it has been pierced by the pike member.
The pike hook has utility because it performs its intended function, but it has shortcomings. For example, it is inefficient at removing ceiling materials because the firefighter must repeatedly puncture the ceiling before the ceiling material can be brought down with the hook. More specifically, the firefighter often is required to make a series of closely spaced perforations with the pike part of the tool before the hook part thereof can effectively rip out a large section of ceiling to provide access to the fire. The need to puncture the ceiling repeatedly tires the firefighter and slows down the process of gaining access to the fire.
The pike hook can also be used to puncture and remove walls to gain access to a fire, but repeated penetration of the wall is still required. Wall penetration is not as tiring because the firefighter is not holding the tool over his or her head, but the making of the multiple punctures required before the wall section can be removed consumes time and energy.
There are numerous other forcible entry tools available to firefighters, such as axes, mattocks, and the like, but these tools supplement the common pike hook, i.e., they do not replace it. Axes, for example, have little utility in pulling lathe, plaster, and sheet metal from their mounting surfaces and must therefor be used in conjunction with pulling tools. The ability of the common pike hook to both penetrate and pull explains its widespread popularity.
However, there remains a need for a penetration and pulling tool that would enable firefighters to remove structural panels without having to make multiple penetrations thereof, that would not overly tire the firefighter even when the tool is held in an overhead configuration, and that would speed up the panel-removal process. The prior art, when considered as a whole in accordance with the requirements of law, neither teaches nor suggests how such a tool could be provided. Significantly, pike hooks, axes, and the like have been known for a century or more; the conventional wisdom has long been that such tools are the best tools for the job, and that no substantial advances can be made in the art of firefighting forcible entry tools.